Show we aate I 1 have changed all that by herbert quick and elena eiena mac mahon copyright by T the he r ebbs bobbs merrill co service THE STORY commissar soviet quad invades the lieme of kingin aln aristocrat tit at kazan insults the daughter murla commissar lorla loris Is urged to confiscate con fiscale the home the family insists of judge krassan Krass ln mrs mra krajain Kra Kras sain ilya former officer and alusha vladimir former officer to 8 IM uffa fiance mrs krassin krasen i fear for hoi hei tons mons safety ilya recognizes in Vill a former dishonest steward mrs krassin conducts bicy in an n of the home and contrives that lie he ahall not see ilya the commissar brutally insults masla M it a a mrs Kraa Krask ilna sins thoughts are all of ilya musia muaia feels herself defenseless CHAPTER V continued 9 what wits was to become of her for the first time in her ter life site she faced peril or ir the file first time drue in it tier e r life slie site pondered pond pred deeply tier her place in tile the world and tier her fomil and its place in a way she knew about tier fattier and tier lier mother she knew that on tier pin tiers fliers side they were a great family fit ralls the and that her mother hid married the man who was known i 1 bit BI tile the conversations of her great relatives merely as this mr air krassin was only a member of tile the small nobility it was difficult to think of the solid plain lady who was liei lie mother as a little irl rl hut but yet she had the lie aid of a pastel aich hung on the walls or of this i cry room a picture of mrs airs krassin a As a child in a low neches sleeveless dress with ll if lit ht brown hair banking down dovin iner ber back find and a narrow blue ribbon across tier her forehead and lith a small do ing in her bior hands and a slightly frightened look in her eyes mrs airs krassin tit at thirteen now with the brightened right ened look occasionally returning slie she had find always been at an in cil billable lable sort of person who married this mr air krassin Kr because other suitors did not sue site and site she wisher to be emancipated she had controlled her marriage her ter worldly affairs bit all tier her life with a virile era graap enor enormously mou proud of tier her wealth her power tier her r rank a i i k h her e r family n i li y A hard r d w woman om n but u t nith i 1 t 1 i 0 ore r e fil absorbing s 0 r b ing ani passion s s 10 n her her lov love e for ilya tier lier son a passion fly ilya seldom suspected for tier her every soft impulse was in th thi list of airs kras sins secrets the only strong person in the family and slie site imd had oot dot resented it when Vill shy had lone done that whitt what then was to become of her ausla in III this of society As tile the night wore on these reflections and llie file passage of vale time left her calmer caliner ile fie was not coming tonight ther mother searching for her finally finall T come came and found her daughter alseen by tier her fathers door site she gently stroked beil muelas hair remembering her as a pretty toddi flig babe when site she prattled tier her first words and what those words were art and then she remembered low as she grew taller they half ad grown apart ns as the barriers of character and custom ClIst oln separated tile older woman from tile the budding one A sudden access a i affection rollel rolled over mrs Kr kramins asIns soul as slie she looked down at the llie pretty lead and face so innocent in sleep at the graceful form and the slim allm hands as ac it if in anxiety in her lap and slie site thought of she stooped and gently kissed muelas forehead rehena fo the girl started up screaming do bot awaken your fattier fat lier Maro osla said mrs krassin standing erect 1 I I 1 was frightened whispered 1 I thought some one die kissed me 1 I am the only one here said tier her mother 1 I 1 must have been dreaming said muja mrs airs krassin walkr walked d quietly into her husbands room anil and looked down upon him sleeping much aluch gentler was she than usual ns As site led the he girl to in her room and told tier her it was nas time for tier her to be asleep 1 I iu afraid to be alone said ausla sirs airs krassin lay iny on a chaise longue by the I lied ed and held the young girls hand husla slept with long quivering I 1 ng slats the sun of nt last shone in at tile quietly she arose looked town donn at the girl for a moment niome ut and tiptoed from tile llie room CHAPTER VI love and conspiracy one evening in 1920 in vladivostok an amerlean american talked with a Itus Iiii noblewoman site she hai had led fled from her russian home on iii not find walked for weeks A vagrant often foodless had caught rides on siberian herlan Sl railway trains stowed away in freight cars e a rs or 0 r on their th air roots from a sybarite to 6 trump tramp I 1 she bhe bad a nurse for kolt chak chaks army amid 1 arild tile the most horrible conditions of lack ack of supplies organization and skilled personnel find and A mortality which able was terrible she find gone ragged and lirty and for weeks had not tind find even a change ot of underclothing tier clothes fell away bit by bit As tier her stockings stoc kinns wore olt off nt at the toes she cut them orr off and sewed them up lititia they were gone and a fellow refugee asked her after a glimpse below tier skirts where here she had find obtained tier lier nice white stockings find wits was th own a bit of american slang derived froni from red ked cross workers in the hie information that they were tier her birthday hose she hud bad worked for the american rei red cross ns as interpreter typist clerk and translator trans lutor for slie she knew russian Itus sian polish breuch and italian na as well as english find and site she louid could coax wonderful from the tuneless piano in the hed fled cross barracks in vladivostok site she had lust lost fattier father mother brothers I 1 sister find and fl fiancee ancee and was I 1 now low in what was left of IL at old hall dress I 1 dancing to the music of an american americ worships warships band in tile the long ton hall in the barracks 17 1 1 7 I constantly marvel said he at ahe the way tiny you refugees manage to enjoy yourselves well said she smiling amiling up at film 1 one cant lie ile always weep weeping til 11 I 1 so 60 it was with the Kr grassing assing they aliey had already acquired the resiliency ot of those who vilio walk daily in peril and after the te by night MOW had passed them and their little group had bad gathered as usual under tinder mrs airs krasula Kras sla their general they were in lather father better spirits than usual A peril had passed them by they had find not boen been notified to quit their house another vladimir had asked for musia and had gone to her day had find come mrs lZ especially was as in a cheerful frame of min mind li for vladimir had asked tor for gl musia u a and n d L lad a d g gone to 1 her where she briber ier sat a t surround u rr 0 u n e ed d b by y her p peculiar e allor household gods in a room which was halt half a study half a sitting room the central feature of which was u great piano bilth harp and guitar at hand band and statues engravings and rare por mr celaine scattered ed about aboul T the lie selection and arrangement spoke of a and a restless mind mrs airs had decided long ago when ausla and vladimir were children t at the two distant cousins were to be married both families cherished the wish for the alliance mrs krassin had find never talked to ausla about this thinking it better to endeavor by indirect and invisible means to bring the event about so that it would seem to happen in the natural course of things for a year or so past site she had begun to feel a sense of disappointment and irritation because these plans were so slow in coming to fruition but she elie looked upon a talk with will musli as a last resort she rile had a feeling that all she might mi lit encounter in tier her daughter something alli ng tending toward rebellion and saying to herself you never can tell beforehand before haid baid how things will turn out with asla slie site declined to put tile the affair to the test of an issue like tile the cautious diplomat which she prided herself upon being TO BE CONTINUED |